Renewable Energy forecast to be on a par, or cheaper than Fossil Fuel Energy by 2020
When I started looking into this, I couldn’t believe we were so close to there actually being no good reason to get your energy from fossil fuels anymore. Surely not. I thought. So I kept looking, and I found three different sources all saying virtually the same thing.
1st Source – SMH - EY Global Power & Utilities
An article in the the Sydney Morning Herald reported statements made by the Head of EY Global Power & Utilities, Serge Colle.
Sydney Morning Herald, 27th November 2017.
‘Renewable energy to reach cost parity with coal by 2020’
"As early as 2021, [globally] we reach what we call grid parity; with Australia, the expectation is that this will come one year earlier, as early as 2020,"
“Grid parity is when renewable or alternative sources can produce energy at a levelised cost of electricity (LCOE) equal to or less than buying energy generated from traditional power sources such as coal or natural gas.”
Thank you Mr Colle.
2nd Source – Forbes - International Renewable Energy Agency
The International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA), reported through Forbes, and although you might think their outlook could be a touch biased, their claim is almost exactly the same as EYs.
Forbes, 13th January 2018
‘Renewable Energy Will Be Consistently Cheaper Than Fossil Fuels By 2020, Report Claims’
…the cost of generating power from onshore wind has fallen by around 23% since 2010 while the cost of solar photovoltaic (PV) electricity has fallen by 73% in that time.
With further price falls expected for these and other green energy options, IRENA says all renewable energy technologies should be competitive on price with fossil fuels by 2020.
Thank you IRENA.
3rd Source – SMH - Bloomberg New Energy Finance
A report from Bloomberg New Energy Finance, reported in the Sydney Morning Herald. Although it didn’t provide the 2020 outlook, it delivered some fairly convincing statements nonetheless.
Sydney Morning Herald, 30th March 2018.
‘Falling renewable cost ‘chilling’ for fossil fuels’
The cost of electricity supplied by lithium-ion batteries, like the Tesla installation in South Australia, has fallen nearly 80 per cent, from $US1000 ($1308) a kilowatt hour in 2010 to only $US209 a kilowatt hour in 2017.
"We are seeing record-low prices being set for wind and solar, and then those records being broken again and again on a regular basis. This is having a powerful effect – it is changing perceptions," Seb Henbest, BNEF head of Europe, the Middle East and Africa.
BNEF said Australia had one of the world's lowest levelised cost of electricity for onshore wind and solar.
Thank you Seb.
So there you go, fairly convincing in my book.
Reports from two of the central bastions of finance, EY and Bloomberg, saying renewables are on the brink of becoming the cheapest way to generate electricity.
And if you don’t believe it, you only have to wait for a year to find out.
But why wait. You might as well make the switch now.
If your Doctor told you something awful might happen in twelve years from now, would you wait for the price of the medicine to drop 5% before buying it?
Or would you buy it now, and start taking it straight away.
And even if it turns out you didn’t need the medicine, the side effects are less pollution, and a healthier planet.
Yeah I thought so.
Click here and make the switch.
Do it now, before you forget.
Thanks.